Dolph Ziggler def. Luke Harper(c)(16:42)
Thoughts: I like the idea of this match opening the show, because the WWE crowds love Ziggler and always react well to his matches. These boys beat the hell out of each other, with the bruises mounting during the match, especially on Ziggler. There was a scary spot when Harper did his suicide dive, and got his arm caught up in a ladder, which looked like he could have broken his arm; Ziggler also got busted open during the match. One small thing to note, does anyone else notice how Ziggler actually climbs the ladder with a sense of urgency and like, what’s at the top actually means something? Sure we need the super slow dramatic climb from time to time, but Ziggler makes it look good the way he does it. They did some great teases down the stretch, legit making me wonder who would win the match, which I greatly appreciate. Simply put this was a very good match with the right guy winning with a good finish. This was a great way to kick off the show; Ziggler’s win sets the stage for the night and Harper came off as a complete bad ass in loss. They tried to put over the IC Title and the history of it, which I appreciate, but the history is the one thing that is not damaged.
Rating: ****1/4
The Usos def. The Miz and Damien Mizdown(c) via DQ(7:17)
Thoughts: The match had three points going into it, the tag titles were on the line, the Miz messing with Naomi and Mizdow just being Mizdow. The focus was mostly on Mizdow being wacky, then Jimmy being pissed at Miz and then the tag titles, which felt like the absolute last thing anyone cared about here. The biggest problem I have with this match is that when it starts getting good, it ends. The DQ finish was bullshit, especially after several months of tag title matches with clean decisive finishes. Hopefully, these two teams have a rematch at the Royal Rumble and hopefully, it's a lot better than this was.
Rating: *3/4
Big Show def. Erick Rowan(11:14)
Thoughts: This is an absolutely stupid match gimmick that should only be used once and never again. However, to Show and Rowan's credit, they were able to work around this awful idea and give us and interesting match. Some of the spots they came up with were pretty cool, like Show spearing Rowan through a pile of stairs. Though, I got to say, using the steps to pin Rowan is cheap. Still not sure why Show went over here. Perhaps we get another mini-push for Show, otherwise, I don't see why they booked Show going over so strongly here. Good effort from the two, but the stipulation was just terrible.
Rating: **1/4
John Cena def. Seth Rollins(23:34)
Thoughts: If I could describe this match in one word, it would be overbooked. This felt like the Lucha Underground ladder match from earlier in the week, where there is constant interference to the point that it completely takes away from the match and also makes Rollins look weak as hell because he and two other dudes worked together the majority of the match and couldn’t beat Cena. The worst part was that it wasn’t like they were trying to work a great match around these shenanigans. The two were just "having a match" which conveniently happened to have a bunch of garbage lying around...and that's not what I want for a Cena/Rollins match. It wasn't too big a surprise to see Cena win, but Roman Reigns returning I wasn't expecting and it looks like he'll feuding with Big Show. Anyway, I suppose this was a good match, but not the great match you'd expect given who we have.
Rating: ***1/4
Nikki Bella(c) def. AJ Lee(7:38)
Thoughts: Well, for one, I'm happy to see the divas not getting the death spot like they have the last several PPV's. However, just because they're not in the death spot doesn't really mean anything. The match here was just sloppy and lacked energy. I know AJ is leaving, but she could've shown some sort of interest out there. Anyway, the ending had Nikki sprayed some new gimmick into AJ’s eyes and hit the rack attack for the win. That was something, I guess.
Rating: *3/4
Ryback def. Kane(9:50)
Thoughts: Let me just recap the history of TLC's Chairs matches for you. Taker/Batista from 2009: A fun entertaining match. Cena/Barrett from 2010: Maybe not worthy of going on last, but still a pretty good match. Show/Henry from 2011: Not as good as the previous two, but still interesting. Show/Sheamus for 2012: a pretty good match in a series of pretty good PPV matches the two had in 2012. 2013 didn't have a chairs match. Whether or not you like this gimmick, it usually produces good matches, so like an idiot, I expected some good stuff shown here. OH...MY...GOD...WAS I WRONG! This match was so boring and so long, I thought it lasted twice as long then it actually was. This is an instance where I wish Ryback would've just come in, beat the ever loving shit out of Kane, hit the Shell-Shock and win within three and a half minutes. That would've been better than what we got and I would've given that a better rating too.
Rating: 3/4*
Ruzev(c) def. Jack Swagger(4:50)
Thoughts: Supposedly, Ruzev was to face Sheamus here, but with Sheamus on the self, they had to turn to Swagger, which is fine since the two had some matches back at Battleground in July and Summerslam in August. The best part of the match was when Ruzev had Swagger in the Accolade and after a minute or two, Swagger countered into the Patriot Lock. That's right, the first time anyone ever got out of the Accolade(as far as I know, comment if it happened before.) That didn't last long however, as Ruzev put him right back in the Accolade and that was the end of it. I'll say this: I didn't hate anywhere as much as I did the chairs match(despite what the rating says) If these two had been giving twice as much time as they got, this could've been good, but with what we have, it's far from quality.
Rating: *
Bray Wyatt def. Dean Ambrose(26:58)
Thoughts: First off, am I the only one who thinks it's silly to have a TLC match with nothing on the line. Put a title shot up there, the 30th entrant for the Rumble, or a Crackle Barrel gift card so Bray can go buy a new chair, I don't care, just put something on the line. Well, not that I got that out, this was just a really fun match and with some really cool spots. I have to talk about the ending though. So after Ambrose put Wyatt through the Spanish Announce Table(cause that's what it's there for) he rolled Wyatt into the ring and picked up a monitor that was under the ring(BTW, the reasoning why that monitor was there was actually very believable) that he had looked at earlier when he looked at one the those big ladders near the titantron. He brings it into the ring and goes to hit Bray with it, but it's connected with cords. Ambrose tries again and it blows up right in his face! He walks right into Sister Abigail and that's that. Overall, a really fun TLC match that ended this mediocre show on some kind of high.
Rating: ****
2.38 out of 5
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